


Head Over Heels

by SteamyTaiZhen



Category: Carole & Tuesday (Anime)
Genre: Age Difference, Bisexual Male Character, Canon Bisexual Character, Denial of Feelings, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Headcanon, M/M, Sleepy Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:02:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23701267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteamyTaiZhen/pseuds/SteamyTaiZhen
Summary: What if Ertegun had feelings for Roddy? If that were the case, this is how he would have handled his day-to-day life in episode 17.
Relationships: Ertegun & Roddy (Carole & Tuesday), Ertegun/Roddy (Carole & Tuesday)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 61





	Head Over Heels

**Author's Note:**

> Please finish C&T part 2 before reading!  
> Doujinshi page: https://twitter.com/ManikaNeige/status/1261512656848130048?s=19
> 
> On another note as for the timeline:  
> • In episode 17, Ertegun wakes up and the notice he receives is dated for the beginning of August.  
> • In the same episode, Roddy reads an article dated at the beginning of October.  
> • Assuming that Cydonia festival takes place sometime in mid October to late November, Ertegun's living arrangements were as presented in Episode 17 for approximately 3 months.

  
" Roddy... You don't have to go out of your way."  
" Come to my place, okay?"  
  
His heart sank lower. Ertegun was perfectly fine just staying outside, he'd be even more embarrassed and ashamed if some kid who used to work for him forced himself to help him out.  
  
However, the tables were turned on that kind of thinking. Because Roddy was the one to force him to come over.  
  
The guy pretty much grabbed him by the wrist and walked him all the way to his apartment building.  
  
Roddy was a basement dweller of sorts, but he had a pretty big place, relatively speaking. The first area you entered was a basic entrance with a walk-in closet facing the door and all, with a small kitchen area. Down below was a big, spacious office/bedroom area, where multiple monitors dominated the wall, projecting a blue light into all of the apartment. The adjacent walls on the left and right of the monitors had shelves and boxes with manga, programming textbooks and Otaku related merchandise and figurines. Roddy had nothing but a single bed under the staircase, surrounded by boxes of merch he never got to putting up on display. And next to the stairs was an automated door to the bathroom with a sticker of a wizard's silhouette on it, saying _YOU SHALL NOT PASS_. Obviously, some geeky reference that guests to his home wouldn't get.  
  
Well into September, Ertegun had been there for nearly a month now. He's sort of made this little basement his home as well and adjusted to it. It didn't compare to his enormous estate on the outskirts of Alba city, but it was big enough for himself and Roddy. The former entrepreneur and musical star wallowed in his deteriorated mental state, doing almost nothing with his days. He was without an occupation and considered himself lucky enough to be thrown out of his former home with at least the clothes on his back, or rather, the less expensive clothes that the repo bots would allow him to have. For now, Roddy bought him clothes to wear around the apartment. Since the man couldn't pay rent, he did chores for him.   
  
The young freelance programmer was by no means poor, but he was cheap (to be able to afford the anime merchandise he loved so much). The only AI he had at home were of the software type, in his computer. He had no hardware such as bots or AI pets around the house and he mostly ate instant noodles.  
  
Ertegun, growing up as a rich son of an entrepreneur much like his former self, never had to cook or clean and do laundry all his life. Although, with his current living arrangements, he had to learn and do all those things, often doing laundry for himself and Roddy while he was at work and doing his groceries and other errands for him as well. The DJ/businessman had basically been turned into a housewife.  
  
Today, the stress of losing everything and the backbreaking chores got to him after a day of scrubbing every tile in the bathroom. He was used to swimming for his exercise, not manual labour, so his muscle definition was no longer as pronounced as it used to be, when he had more regular exercise.  
  
Roddy had to cut back on his expenses and put in less money towards his credit card to pay off the expenses he went through at the anime convention he had attended this summer. All so he could buy Ertegun a sleeping bag to use at his place.  
  
Even if it wasn't a cheap one, it didn't compare to the expensive mattress he had back at his mansion. Sleeping on what was pretty much the floor did no favours for him and he was long overdue for back pain, especially considering the fact that he was now middle aged. He was ashamed to do what he was about to do: sleep on Roddy's bed. But, he figured he'd explain it to Roddy later, since he'd be coming home late, or rather, early in the morning. He didn't mind getting out of bed at 3 AM and just staying awake after that. With his life in shambles and no business meetings or night club gigs to go to, Ertegun lost his circadian rhythm and all sense of time, his days were spent just thinking: _when will Roddy get home?_ Like a puppy dog awaiting his owner to come home.  
  
  
  
 _Beep. Beep. Beep.  
Beep. Beep.  
Beep. Beep. Beep.  
Beep. Beep. Beep.  
Beep. Beep.  
Beep. Beep. Beep.  
_  
  
  
" How infuriating..." Ertegun whispered to himself as he opened his eyes. He reached for the source of the sound, turning off the phone's alarm, only to realize that he was curled up around Roddy's slender frame, with an arm and a leg wrapped around the young man like he was embracing a body pillow.  
  
" Ertegun... Are you awake, now?" Roddy muttered softly. He was undeniably spooning him, and his mind went into a panic. He didn't know how he got into this position, but had an idea; this was after all, Roddy's bed, so it made sense for him to want to sleep in it. Still, he was a guest in his home, bordering on being a freeloading roommate, so he immediately backed off and apologized incessantly, fearing Roddy thought the worst of him and wanted to kick him out.  
  
" No need to say sorry that much. But you know, if you want, I could just sleep on the floor, if you want... That's until I can save up to buy you a mattress..."  
  
" N-no, Roddy, it's fine! I'll go back to sleeping on the floor, it's just... My back was hurting yesterday! I thought you'd wake me up when you got home, so I was going to do laundry or something when you got back."  
  
" Uh, I got home pretty late, I wasn't going to kick you out of bed for that." Roddy sighed, scratching the back of his neck and sitting up to face the man who had his back against the wall.  
  
" I probably should have just offered you my bed in the first place, but I mean, you're used to better beds, right? This mattress is from when I used to live with my parents, so it's old and worn out. I didn't think you should be using this old thing, but if your back hurts..."  
  
" Ahahah... Don't say it like that, I seem like an old man... But Roddy, I really am grateful to you for letting me stay here, so don't spoil me any more than you already have... I can't stand the thought of you troubling yourself over _me_..." There it was, some self-deprecation that he seldom showed, but did nowadays more often than not.  
  
" I'm not worth it... I can't understand why you go through the trouble to do anything at all for me... "  
Roddy sighed and somehow, it seemed like he blushed.  
  
" Well, Ertegun... I've worked for you for... two years, I believe, and we sometimes hung out off the clock, so I kind of assumed... We were friends, you know?"  
  
It was true, although in Ertegun's mind, Roddy was always just some kid that happened to be his sound tech, he has always treated Roddy like a friend throughout the years, treating him to lunch, turning to him for emotional support, confiding in him whenever he had things going on in his personal life, however, he never really admitted to himself that Roddy was a friend, due to the significant age gap that would make it weird to call such a young guy his friend. They were an entire generation apart, maybe even two. So while they've always been friends, it was hard for Ertegun to truly realize that.  
  
" So I guess we now know that we both fit in the bed, even if it's a tight squeeze. Maybe, if it's okay with you, we could keep sleeping together. I mean, when I was in school, friends always slept in my bed with me. They didn't take as much space as you do, but we can make it work."  
  
It has just occurred to Ertegun: if Roddy was used to sleeping in the same bed as a friend, why didn't he offer to sleep together in the first place?   
  
" Roddy, I can't sleep here if it makes you uncomfortable. I mean, it's why you got me a sleeping bag, right?"  
  
" W-well... I just thought... If we would live together, it had to stay platonic... You know? And you said you... Swing both ways..."  
  
" So, it had something to do with my coming out to you. I'm sorry if my being in your bed makes you uneasy." He slipped around Roddy and got out of the bed, only to have Roddy yelp out in protest.  
  
" It had nothing to do with that! I've had gay friends in my bed sleeping over, too, it's just they weren't single and you're...such a bachelor... Sorry! It came out wrong, too, I mean, _if it's you_ , it doesn't seem appropriate for us to... I mean... What happened earlier..."  
  
" So I grabbed you in my sleep when you slipped into bed with me. Maybe I'm just _lonely_ , if you catch my drift..." Ertegun almost seemed like his old self for a second, he spoke in a low, sultry tone, a tone that Roddy was all too familiar with. It was the tone he took with a woman when he was in full seduction mode.  
  
" I don't want to start anything with you if it means losing your trust, alright, Roddy?"  
  
This was bad. Roddy definitely didn't think of him that way. Of course, it's crossed Ertegun's mind to mess around with him in the past. But he never acted upon his fleeting momentary desires to be more than just somewhat friends with an employee of his, and one of his best, at that. He almost, just almost, immediately regretted coming out to him in the first place. Ertegun questioned his own sanity that day. If he didn't ever intend to start anything with Roddy, why would he tell him that he loved men as well as women in such a flirtatious tone, while holding him _THAT_ closely by the shoulder, with his lips so close to Roddy's ear.   
  
No sane person would ever believe that what he did wasn't flirting. If he never wanted to present himself as available in a sexual or romantic aspect towards Roddy, he never would have come out to him in such a manner. Besides, he was heading off to a date with a woman. He didn't need to tell Roddy that information, ever. Telling himself that he didn't want to _start anything_ with Roddy was an outright lie that he had to say out loud to convince himself of it as well.   
  
" But, " Roddy spoke softly, " I... Didn't hate it..."  
  
He didn't know why, but Ertegun felt his face overheating. Did he hear that? Did Roddy just admit to not minding being enveloped in his embrace?   
  
" Sorry, what?" Ertegun asked, completely and utterly perplexed, " ...did I just hear you say something or did I imagine it?" He turned towards Roddy and came closer.  
  
" You're going through a tough time right now, and I'm pretty sure if I felt as miserable as you do... I'd want a hug. So, I don't mind." Ertegun stared back at him blankly. Did Roddy not get the sexual implications he was making? No, he had to get his mind out of the gutter, Roddy was sympathizing with him after he seemed to have crossed a line.

  
" What are you saying, Roddy?"  
" I'm saying... You can hold me whenever you want. I get lonely, too."  
" Roddy... Are you busy today?"  
" I've got nothing until tomorrow, really..."  
Ertegun sat back down on the bed and threw his arms around Roddy, pinning him down to the bed, resting his face on Roddy's chest.  
  
" If that's the case, let me hold you, just a little longer."  
  
Roddy hugged back, wrapping an arm around Ertegun's head and the other rested on his back. They laid in each other's arms for a while, thinking that this comfort right here, was only going to go on for as long as Ertegun was living here. He didn't know it, but in the next month, he was about to make it out alright, and make all his money back, but for now, it was okay for him to wallow in the warmth of Roddy's embrace, the two would share more moments like this over and over again, cuddling up with each other every night in that single bed beneath the stairwell, but would never speak of it again come November.  
  
After all, Roddy was underaged, Ertegun needed to resist his urges to flirt with the guy, to ravish him, to seduce him, at least, for now, that was his excuse. Otherwise, deep down, he knew, he was just a coward that feared rejection. He made sure to keep Roddy close after that, but to tuck away those feelings he had far away in the depths of his subconscious.  
  
No one could ever know that Ertegun was head over heels for Roddy, not even Ertegun himself.

**Author's Note:**

> Can we just take a moment to realize that every episode is named after a baby-boomer generation song with a title that fits the context? And of all they could've chosen to reflect the downfall of Ertegun, they choose to call his episode "Head Over Heels"? You can argue that it was meant for Kyle and Tuesday, but the events between them in this episode were very minor.
> 
> This is my first non-smut of these two and I'm almost done with my Ertegun X Roddy smut fic! I've been making lots of fanart of these two and want to make a comic/doujinshi of these two if I can find the materials for it (this was written in quarantine, I might be able to salvage some papers).


End file.
